. The longer context is that their burning desire for European glory is no secret. It was the only trophy missing from their cabinet under Emma Hayes. The 2020-21 finalists have spent years focusing on what they believed it would take to bridge a gap to Lyon caused primarily by the gap in investment. Now, with the French club hunted down by Barcelona, who have won the Champions League three times in the past four years, the focus has expanded.
How to do it, though? In the 2020-21 final Chelsea were swept aside, conceding four times in 36 minutes to a Barcelona team fuelled by the pain of a not dissimilar defeat by Lyon two seasons before in their first final. Hayes’s team did not follow a similar path, though. After their first final the gap seemed to get bigger, an anomaly season when they failed to escape the group stage in its introductory year being followed by back-to-back semi-final exits at the hands of Barça.
Those two 2-1 aggregate defeats were tighter than the 4-0 drubbing in the final, when silly and unfortunate mistakes proved costly. But even last season, when a stunning 1-0 win was secured at Barcelona before the team were undone at home, a gap was visible. Chelsea had to be perfect and labour hard to earn their slender lead against a side that looked frustrated but a little stuck in first gear.
It was similar in Chelsea’s recent 1-0 defeat of Arsenal in the WSL. The margin was narrow, but Chelsea made their opponents work extremely hard, without overexerting themselves, and looked in control for most of the game.
The exit of the beloved but fatigued Hayes and arrival of Sonia Bompastor, a Champions League winner as a player and a manager with Lyon, has re-energised the club and players. However, if Chelsea win a first Champions League or a quadruple, …
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